Deer season coming to close with bow hunting days

Deer season has come full circle, with only a few days of bow hunting action remaining before the official close of the 2012 season.

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By MARK SPENCLEYmark@cheboygantribune.com

Cheboygan Daily Tribune - Cheboygan, MI

By MARK SPENCLEYmark@cheboygantribune.com

Posted Dec. 29, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By MARK SPENCLEYmark@cheboygantribune.com

Posted Dec. 29, 2012 at 12:01 AM

CHEBOYGAN

Deer season has come full circle, with only a few days of bow hunting action remaining before the official close of the 2012 season.

It all began on Oct. 1, the start of a month and a half long period of archery-only deer hunting. That transitioned into the November firearms season and later the December muzzleloader season. Now the deer season will close how it opened, with bow hunters being the only ones in the woods.

The challenges of these final two weeks are immense, but tagging a buck is not impossible.

“Late season is different,” said Ashley Autenreith, deer specialist with the Department of Natural Resources. “In firearms season, when most people are out there, bucks are rutting hard, focused on does. Now deer are focused on food.”

Rutting bucks spend much of their time on their feet, even during daylight. The opposite is true once the rut has passed. The only thing that will get bucks moving before the sun sets is their need take in enough calories to stave off the cold.

“The colder it is, the more they feed,” Autenreith added. “Bucks lose a lot of weight during the rut and they’re trying to put that back on.”

During the late season, the cold is a two edged sword. It gets the deer moving toward food sources, but the elements are tough on bowhunters.

During firearms season, hunters can bundle up as much as they could like, but archery hunters need to have range of movement and that means fewer bulky garments.

Layering is the key to achieving warmth without cumbersome clothing.

The general rule is to start with a moisture wicking layer, followed by several insulating layers, topped off with a wind and rain proof outer layer. This system provides the necessary warmth for the coldest days.

While the cold is a worthy foe in late December, edgy deer provide and even greater challenge.

For the last three months deer have been hunted in almost every nook and cranny of northern Michigan woods. Deer have a common reaction to all of this pressure, they become nocturnal. They only way to overcome this is to hunt close to bedding areas and wait for the weather for force deer to feed.

Most hunters focus exclusively on food in the late season, but getting as close to heavy, thick bedding cover is an often overlooked method for taking cold weather bucks.

“Cover doesn’t get talked about as much, but it is really important too,” said Jennifer Kleitch, biologist with the DNR. “Cedars and swamps offer wind break and thermal cover. Those are usually good spots.”